RALEIGH, N.C. — There was nothing unusual about seeing Frederik Andersen on the ice at PNC Arena on Wednesday morning for an entirely ordinary off-day practice. He’s been out there with his teammates since early December, working his way back from a knee injury.
What’s different is there are no questions about if and when he’ll play. Andersen is expected to make his third start since his return for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, and his play in the first two games back — wins over the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins, the latter a narrow 2-1 win with the only goal batted into his own net by Andersen himself in a blooper-reel gaffe — underlined one crucial point: It may take him a while to get himself ready to return, but he really does know what he’s doing.
“In terms of feeling, like, being ready, it really can be tough,” Andersen said Wednesday. “You never really know what you’re going to face in net in a real game. You’ll never know. It’s one of those things, you do what you can, you try to feel as good as you can in practice, and it’s sink or swim.”
The Hurricanes managed just fine without him for a while, ripping off an 11-game winning streak behind Antti Raanta and Pyotr Kochetkov, but as they both faltered, one streak turned into another.
Andersen’s return not only got the Hurricanes turned back in the right direction but allowed Kochetkov, finally, to go down to Chicago and try to get his groove back.
‘Could he have played probably way earlier?’
Much like last spring, when Andersen was practicing throughout the Rangers series but never played or even dressed as Raanta wavered in Game 6 and got hurt in Game 7, there were times when it seemed like Andersen might never come back. But when he did, the results were spectacular.
“He couldn’t have played much better,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said “After being off that long, that was a huge concern. He practiced a long time. It wasn’t like he was off and we threw him right in. … He knew what he needed to do to get to that level. Could he have played probably way earlier and maybe not have been as sharp? I think probably. But he obviously looks good.”
And that’s the crux of the differing needs of player and team, the balance that has to be struck. While the Hurricanes might prefer he get to that point a little more quickly, Andersen has learned, through difficult experience, that at this point in his career, the risk of coming back at anything less than 100 percent outweighs the delay.
“As you get older, you’re more experienced, or more in tune with your body I guess,” Andersen said. “Knowing when you need treatment, what’s bothering you, what’s not right, small day-to-day things. Just from always taking an interest in getting good treatment and taking advantage of all the good resources on the team and the outside people I’ve gotten to know over the years.”
Looking ahead to April, May, June
In the end, it’s much better Andersen takes whatever time he needs now to get himself back into prime shape, physically and mentally, than rush himself back — specially since the Hurricanes were able to ride Kochetkov and Raanta for two months, although that was never a long-term solution. Not only was it a lot to ask of the rookie, who started seven straight games at one point, there was always going to be a moment where the adrenaline and giddy haze of playing every other day wore off and reality set in.
Andersen’s return allows Kochetkov to go down to the minors and play every day, again. If history is any guide, the Hurricanes will need him again.
“We need him to play, No. 1,” Brind’Amour said. “A three-goalie rotation is not the best for a young kid. We want to get his confidence at a high level, which it was when he came here. Listen, he had a good stretch, but he’s still a young goalie with a lot to learn. That showed I think at the end. We’re doing the right thing here.”
Andersen, who has less to learn at this point in his career, is still the goalie that gives the Hurricanes the best chance to win the Stanley Cup, his rough start to the season aside. If that means taking a couple weeks in December and January to go from 99.2 percent fit to 99.9 percent fit, by all means, what’s the rush, honestly?
Because the Hurricanes don’t necessarily need Andersen at his best now, or in February or March. They need him to win playoff games for them in April and May and June, especially when they don’t have their best stuff, something the Hurricanes didn’t get last spring when they really needed it on the road.
Higher stakes, bigger opportunity
Make no mistake, goaltending isn’t the reason the Hurricanes went out in the second round, but it’s fair to wonder if things wouldn’t have been different — it would have taken just one stolen road win in the Rangers series — were Andersen available. (Or, for that matter, if Raanta hadn’t been banged up early in the Boston series.)
That’s not a hypothetical the Hurricanes have any interest in exploring again. Nor, for that matter, does Andersen. He played on good teams in Anaheim and Toronto but only once twice made it out of the first round. On a team this good, the stakes are that much higher, the opportunity that much bigger.
“Looking back, I’ve been blessed to be on really good teams throughout my career, from the early days in Anaheim,” Andersen said. “I’ve heard all the guys say this, when you do get a chance to go on a deep run, take it and do what you can, because you don’t know when you’ll be back there. Same thing in Toronto. You think you’re going to get another chance next year and all of a sudden you don’t know if you do. You just learn to take less things for granted as you get older, both in hockey and in life.”
That too, Andersen has learned over the course of his career.
